Taking Flight
Taking Flight is the fifth episode of the first season of . Synopsis Will and Rhiohr present a weapon to Nathan, who is waiting - and has been for several hours - in the armoury. After a brief discussion about going off on trips and "forgetting" to log out, Nathan asks where the device came from. In answer, Will merely pulls him out of the room. The three men are aboard an Inc'Radi shuttle, bound for the planetary rings. Will and Nathan banter with Rhiohr about his piloting skills as they reach their destination. The lieutenant randomly selects an item of debris in the rings, and the shuttle proceeds to it. The massive, spire-like structure appears to be a component of a ship; specifically a warp drive nacelle, though several elements are unfamiliar. Nathan postulates that it is a predecessor of the transwarp drive used by the Borg. The team reports their findings to the control room, where T'Sora and Ensign D'Jan begin going over the data and inform them of another likely target. After some more conversation about life in the city after two months, the shuttle arrives at the co-ordinates. They discover a trail of seeker drones, dozens of kilometres long, beginning from a vessel similar to their own. Rhiohr sets a course, and Will says they cannot afford to leave so many weapons just floating around. As such, he proposes a salvage operation: Rhiohr will fly the ship, with the aft hatch open, backwards along the trail, in essence scooping up the devices. Hanar and Nathan are extremely wary of the plan, but given that the city's transporters are trusted even less, it is approved. Rhiohr commences the complex manoeuvres and the shuttle begins collecting the drones. Several hours later the operation is completed, and the shuttle returns to the city. After offloading its cargo and picking up another passenger (T'Sora) they head back into space, towards a nearly intact space station on the other side of the planet. Will wonders why it wasn't destroyed like the rest of the orbital installations, but Rhiohr explains that with the Inc'Radi's cloaking ability the station could easily have been concealed from Borg scans for as long as necessary. After boarding the station - the interior of which looks very similar to the central tower of the city below - the team access the main computer core drive. A hurried evacuation is prompted when an asteroid, most likely on a collision course for years, sets off a proximity alarm. The team escapes with the drive and the station is destroyed. In the city, the computers are being updated with information from the drive, filling dozens of gaps - but given that it contained the most recent account of Inc'Radi history, it also acts as a warning: there is no one left. They cannot expect help when the fight comes to them. Memorable Quotes *''Nathan glanced out the side window as a chunk of what was probably had been a space station of some kind went zooming by, close enough to reach out and touch. “I’m not sure I feel entirely safe with you at the helm,” he said to Rhiohr, not altogether jokingly. “Can’t you get us there more... directly?” Rhiohr sighed. “You want to fly this thing?” Nathan arched an eyebrow as the ensign muttered something about backseat drivers, but rose slowly from his seat as their target came into view.'' Cast of Characters Main cast *Doctor Nathan Carson *Lieutenant Will Gates *Professor T'Sora *Ensign Hanar D'Jan *Ensign Kira Rhiohr External Links Taking Flight at Ad Astra Category:Star Trek: Abandoned episodes